Page 62 of Secret Shifters Next Door

“Good call,” I said. “I need to make a statement to Ortiz. He needs to know that Harley and that baby are mine. It’s childish, but I want to do something to hit back. Any ideas?”

Blayne raised his eyebrows. “In-vitro DNA tests are a thing now. I mean, they’ve been a thing for a long time, but they’re super safe now. You could do that with Harley. It would go on her medical paperwork, too. If this Ortiz guy has a team monitoring her, then he’d see that pop up. It would be a slap in the face.”

I winced. “That might offend Harley. Like I don’t believe the baby is mine or something.”

“It’s all in how you present it,” Miles said. “You’re wanting to have it on file or whatever. Present it like it’s the best thing to solidify your fatherhood. I’m sure you’ll think of a way to keep her from getting pissed.”

“Easier said than done, but I guess you’re right. Once he sees the kid isn’t his, he may give up and go home.”

“Okay, that’s all we can do about Luis for now,” Blayne said. “The witch needs to be the main thing we focus on. She’s killed shifters, allegedly, and I think she’s the bigger threat at the moment. How do we catch her? We have to do that to get the answers to our questions.”

Miles sighed. “Harley. That’s the connection we have to exploit.”

“The hell? You want to use her as bait?” I rarely got in arguments or fights with the guys, but I really wanted to slug Miles for suggesting it.

“What else do we have that can bridge the gap between us and Emily? Answer me that, and I’ll pull it off the table.”

Glaring at him, my mind flipped through any possible scenario, then I finally said, “That Siobhan lady? Your friend, can’t she…” I waved my hands vaguely, “…track her magic or something?”

Miles shook his head. “She already said she couldn’t. The spell is over the whole town, and it’s a strong conjuring. If she’s in town, all that magic from the spell will hide her. No go.”

No other thoughts came to me. Blayne and Steffen were no help; they both looked like they agreed with Miles. Grinding my teeth together, I nodded in reluctance.

“The jewelry she gave Harley all had protective spells placed on them. Maybe she really is trying to protect her. She may be watching her to make sure she’s safe,” I said. “We can figure out a plan. But under no circumstances is she to be placed in harm’s way. I’d rather be extra careful and not catch her than get sloppy and have something happen to Harley. Understood?”

The guys nodded. We spent the next ten minutes coming up with a plausible story as well as a plan. Blayne created a few documents to help sell the lie. It wasn’t great, and I hated the idea of lying to Harley. The only other option was to tell her the truth. That I was a magical shape-shifting half-man half-dragon. My other friends could turn into wolves, bears, and panthers. Oh, also your new friend is a witch, like a real-life witch with magic powers, and she might be trying to murder me and my shape-shifting friends. Sound good, sweetie?

That shit wouldn’t fly. Best-case scenario, she’d get mad we were telling stupid stories. Worst-case scenario, she’d run screaming from the building and buy silver bullets.

We had Kennedy get Harley from my office and bring her to the conference room. She looked confused and a little irritated. I’d left her there longer than I thought I would. Things would already be difficult enough without her being pissed at me. I sat with her and put an arm around her shoulders.

Miles sat at the table in front of us. We’d decided he would lead the discussion and explain the plan. Better him than me. I wasn’t sure I could pull off lying to Harley the way he’d have to.

“Emily Heath?” Miles said. “This is the woman Tate said you’ve been looking for?”

Harley looked unsure. “Um, yeah.”

Miles nodded, looking like he’d heard exactly what he wanted to hear. “Tate had us look into her. Turns out she’s a known scam artist. Do you know what a grifter is?”

Harley shook her head. “I think I’ve heard it before but… wait, what are you saying?”

“This Emily is a wanted criminal. She’s traveled all over the U.S. and Canada, pulling off these small-time swindles. Pretending to be someone she isn’t. She inserts her way into people’s lives, scams them out of money, and then disappears before she’s caught. She usually preys on the elderly and single older men. Jumping from town to town, staying one step ahead of the law.”

Harley leaned away from me and looked into my eyes. “Is he serious? There’s no way.”

By some amazing strength of will, I didn’t look away. Instead, I looked her dead in the eyes and said, “It’s true. We’ve seen the proof.”

Miles went on as Harley looked around the room like she had found herself in the middle of a circus. “Her latest victim was a lady in the nursing home you visited. She used a false name and pretended to be her long-lost grand-daughter. Got the lady to sign over her power of attorney. The bank account has already been cleaned out.”

Harley put a hand to her mouth. “Oh my god. This can’t be happening.”

Blayne stood and pulled two pieces of paper from the printer, then handed them to Harley. She looked down, and I looked over her shoulder at the papers. Blayne had put together two shockingly realistic pages. One looked like a screen grab of some regional paper in the north east which gave an accuratedescription of Emily as well as a rundown of the crimes she was accused of. The other was an FBI wanted poster. He’d used a picture from Harley’s security cameras, but had altered the hair color and the background. While Harley stared at the pages and read, I looked at Blayne and raised an eyebrow. He’d done amazing work in fifteen minutes. If he wasn’t already a partial owner, I’d have given him a damned raise.

Harley was close to tears when she finally handed the pages to Miles. “I thought she was my friend.”

The sadness in her voice was almost enough for me to stand up and call the whole story off. I didn’t do that, but it was damned close. My dragon was actually mad at me. All it wanted to do was protect and care for her, and here I was making her cry with this sham.

Managing to get my voice, I said, “She’s wanted by the FBI. They’ve been looking for help capturing her. We think you may be able to help with that. Like Miles said, her latest victim has already been taken advantage of. She’s not going to stay in town much longer.”

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